


For Once in Their Lives

by JustACuteWriteyLesbian



Series: Days to Come [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Fluff but Also Emotions, Idiots in Love, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustACuteWriteyLesbian/pseuds/JustACuteWriteyLesbian
Summary: Adora and Catra take some time for themselves after the war.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Days to Come [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877680
Comments: 7
Kudos: 168





	For Once in Their Lives

Adora awoke to the sound of morning birds singing in the trees above her. She lazily cracked open her eyes, catching the sunlight cascade through the leaves of the greenery overhead. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders, strands of it dancing across her face as a light breeze blew over her skin. For the briefest of moments, old instincts took hold of her - she thought she must have been in a rebellion camp, and a compulsion to fly out of her makeshift hammock and begin making war plans nearly gripped her. Those thoughts were silenced by a soft purr from just under her chin.

  
Adora let go of the breath she didn’t know she was holding and peered down at the young woman wrapped around her. A warmth she had not felt since her childhood bloomed in her at the sight of Catra dozing on top of her and she could not suppress the broad smile which tugged at her lips. Her hand, which was wrapped around Catra’s waist, slowly reached up, gliding along her back, to rest in the unkempt patch of hair on top of her head. Catra responded by nuzzling further into Adora’s shoulder and gripping her more tightly. Her soft purr had evolved into a loud rumble and Adora felt a small flutter in her chest. Catra’s ear twitched, tickling Adora’s nose, and she took a long, indulgent breath before drawling a lazy,

  
“Hey, Adora.”

  
Adora’s hand gently worked through Catra’s hair, stroking the silky soft fur behind her ears, as her other hand rested on the small of Catra’s back, holding her as close to herself as she could. It did not feel close enough.

  
“Hey.” She replied in a near whisper.

  
Adora took a moment to get her bearings. They were perched in the tree line in a rebellion hammock overlooking the valley in which, just the day before, her friends had made the final stand against Prime. Her red jacket was thrown irreverently on top of a large knapsack on the ground next to her boots, which looked as though they had been kicked off haphazardly. Before them, the sun peeked over the horizon, its light filling the world with color and vibrance. The rest of the princesses had reconvened at Bright Moon to discuss a way forward. Reconstruction would have to begin, the clones would have to be dealt with, and Adora had left Entrapta with a mission to try and get in touch with the Star siblings to find out what was going on in the rest of the universe. For once in her life, Adora had opted out.

  
She replayed the memory in her head, her friends all around her, talking jovially, reveling in their victory – and the hugging. So _much_ hugging. When everyone had made the rounds of hugs and congratulations, she had pulled Glimmer aside.

  
“Glimmer, I… I’m not going back to Brightmoon. At least, not yet. I need… some time.”

  
Glimmer, astonishingly enough, did not look surprised. She simply smiled warmly and said, “Adora, if anyone needs a vacation right now, it’s you. Honestly, I’m more surprised that _you_ realize that.”

  
Adora offered a small smile and a blush flowered over her cheeks. “It’s not… I mean, I want to – I just… I need – “ Adora hadn’t realized that asking for this would be so difficult. Luckily, Glimmer was a gracious friend.

  
Glimmer put a hand on Adora’s shoulder. “Adora, it’s okay. Anything you need.”

  
Adora took a breath and nodded, carefully composing her thoughts. “I need some time.” She said with more conviction. “I need some time to…” Her gaze travelled to where Catra was standing with Scorpia and Perfuma, all of them laughing and having an animated discussion. Adora felt her heart leap at the sight.

  
“You two have a lot of catching up to do.” Glimmer said softly, a knowing smirk forming on her lips as she followed Adora’s gaze.

  
“I need to make up for lost time.” Adora replied firmly, her gaze never leaving Catra’s smile.

  
Adora scratched absent-mindedly behind Catra’s ear. The events of the previous day came flooding back to her in earnest – the Heart, Prime, Shadow Weaver, the deluge of magic that coursed through her which she had released back into Etheria. She could still feel it, faintly. It felt like a soft thrum in her chest, a pleasant swell in her stomach. Adora took another deep breath as if she could inhale a bit of the ambient magic which now wafted all around them. And the _sunrise_. The first magical sunrise in a thousand years and Adora had enjoyed it with the three most important people in her life. For a moment, the (New and Improved) Best Friend Squad (now including Catra) had simply sat in the lush grass that engulfed the land for as far as they could see. Magic surged and swelled all around them, lighting the sky with colors Adora had never seen. After a while, they began to spot creatures in the distance, along the trees and in the fields before them, mystical animals that had slumbered in the deepest parts of the Whispering Wood, waiting for magic to return to the planet.

  
Their reverie had been interrupted by Mermista, who called out a concerned, “Uhhhh, guys?”

  
Adora had turned toward the call, immediately spotting a large group of remnant clones gathering at the edges of the valley.

  
“Ohhhhh, we almost forgot about them.” Glimmer had said, furrowing her brow anxiously.

  
“Oh yeah, we just saved the universe, no big deal, but of course we can’t know five whole minutes of peace.” Catra hissed, glaring at the group of clones.

  
Bow put a hand on Glimmer’s shoulder in an attempt to be reassuring. “Maybe they’ll be friendly? I mean, look at Wrong Hordak! Look at _regular_ Hordak!” He gestured to where Hordak and Entrapta had settled in the grass, Entrapta holding tightly onto his arm and chattering excitedly. Hordak was… smiling. And it was not a my-evil-plan-to-conquer-the-world-is-coming-to-fruition type smile, but a genuine soft turn of his lips which spread up to his eyes. Adora and Catra looked at each other. They had never seen Hordak like that before. Maybe Bow was right. Hopefully Bow was right.

  
“We can try talking to them?” Adora ventured.

  
“Better have She-Ra try talking to them.” Catra had said. Adora looked at her, one eyebrow raised. “Trust me, they’ll think twice about trying to vaporize the eight-foot-tall magic lady with a sword that just defeated Prime.”

  
Adora sighed, nodded, and materialized her sword.

  
“For the Honor of Grayskull!”

  
A soft groan and a graze of Catra’s tail over her leg brought Adora back to the present. “What are you thinking about?” Catra asked softly. She still had not opened her eyes, nor moved except to grasp Adora tighter. She had, apparently, noticed Adora’s long moment of silence.

  
“The clones. I know some of them stayed and said they wanted to make lives for themselves here but… a lot of them teleported back to their ships and just… left. It just… doesn’t feel right. We don’t know where they went and we don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the universe and we don’t know if they’re going to come back and what if they _do_ come back and we have to fight another war all over-“ Catra finally lifted her head and Adora’s worried tirade was quickly interrupted by Catra’s gentle kiss on her cheek. Adora felt her breath catch in her throat. Her face flushed and her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest. It was a soft, brief kiss – too brief, Adora thought – and Catra pulled back looking intently into Adora’s eyes.

  
“Can we, like, for once in our lives just… not worry about it? Just for today? Just for right now? Stop thinking about the next war we’re going to fight and just…” Catra let the thought trail off as she gently brushed stray locks of hair from Adora’s face and let her thumb trail lightly down Adora’s jaw.

  
Adora breathed a small, almost longing sigh. “Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry.” She said sheepishly.

  
Catra chuckled brightly. “Adora, the day you actually learn to relax, I think we’ll have bigger problems than Horde clones. That’d break like, every law of nature.”

  
Catra reveled in Adora’s heartfelt laughter and playful squeeze. “Well y’know, maybe if you can learn to be sweet, I can learn to relax.”

  
“Ugh, is that what you want me to be now? _Sweet_? Sorry Adora, I love you, but I don’t think this is gonna work.” Catra extricated herself from Adora’s grasp and lifted herself up as if to leave the comfort of their hammock but Adora’s strong arms caught her and pulled her back down, Catra squealing and both of them giggling. They struggled against each other, wrestling for a moment before the hammock decided it had had enough of their shenanigans and with a high pitched “ADORA!” the two girls found themselves unkindly flopped onto the ground. Catra landed on top of Adora and pushed her face playfully, and Adora grabbed both her hands.

  
“You can’t get away from me that easy. In fact, you couldn’t get away from me if you tried. And you did try. Like, a lot.” Adora said as she wrested Catra back into a tight embrace.

  
“Guess we’re both doomed. I’m stuck with this high-strung mess and you’re stuck with – “ Adora cut her thought short by capturing her in an unyielding kiss. Her hands wandered to Catra’s back and Catra’s hands reached up from Adora’s shoulders to graze her face, holding her in place. They stayed like that for one lingering moment before slowly pulling away, both of them flushing, their hearts pounding.

  
“It’s gonna take me a while to get used to that.” Catra breathed.

  
“We have all the time we want. The Queen decreed it.” Adora said playfully.

  
Catra laughed and Adora’s heart sang. “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.” Catra replied with a smirk. Adora hardly heard her. She stared into Catra’s mismatched eyes and felt a sudden tightness in her chest and a single stray tear slid slowly down the side of her face, despite the smile that lingered on her lips. Catra’s expression grew soft and her hand moved to gently wipe the tears away.

  
“Hey,” she said. “I thought we said no more crying.” But the tenderness in Catra’s voice and written across her face just evoked fresh tears which fell over her fingers. It was a tone Adora had not heard Catra use since they were young. They were still young, weren’t they? They had been through so much just in the past few days, nevermind the lifetime of war and trauma and abuse they shared. For so long, Catra had been so… _wrong_ , a looming figure of fire and rage. For so long the sound of her voice had filled Adora with dread. Hearing Catra speak to her like this now, Adora was struck with a bittersweet nostalgia, and looking at Catra’s eyes filled with nothing but gentleness, she began to see the strong, proud, sharp-witted girl she had loved since before she even knew what love was.

  
“I missed you so much.” Adora said in a near whisper.

  
“Hey, c’mere.” Catra said, sitting upright, still straddling Adora’s legs. Adora sat up and snaked her arms around Catra’s middle, holding her tightly, her head resting on Catra’s shoulder. “I’m here.” Catra said, wrapping one hand around Adora’s shoulders and lacing the other through her long strands of hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  
Adora sniffled softly and hugged her tighter. “I don’t… I don’t think I’d be okay if you weren’t here with me. It wouldn’t… wouldn’t be right. And I really thought – “ Adora choked down a sob, her hands grasping at the fabric on Catra’s back. “I really thought you weren’t coming back.”

  
Catra knew exactly what she meant. In the Whispering Woods, before Adora left for the Heart… Catra had fled. It wasn’t the first time she had run from her feelings, but it was meant to be the last. Catra silently vowed in that moment that it would be. But there was something else, too, a hidden meaning in Adora’s words. Catra had been so lost for so long. She had traveled down a dark corridor and could not find her way out. Every step she took had taken her farther into the darkness, losing everything along the way. She had lost her friends, lost Adora. She had lost herself. It wasn’t until she had seen Adora’s face on Prime’s ship through a haze of green bliss that she finally thought she had caught a glimpse of the light. Adora had promised to bring her back; to bring her home. Sitting here with Adora’s arms wrapped around her, her nose nestled in Adora’s soft golden hair, she knew Adora had kept her promise.

  
“I’m here.” Catra breathed. “I’m never leaving you again.”

  
Adora pulled back to look her in the eyes. She wasn’t sure how to express everything she felt in that moment, if the words even existed. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to talk about. They had been apart for so long and expressing her feelings had certainly never been Adora’s strong suit. _We have time_ , she realized with sudden elation. They had all the time in the world now that there was no war to tear them apart. Maybe someday she would find the words. Maybe someday they could say the things that needed to be said, the good and the bad. But maybe, for once in their lives, just for this moment, it could be simple.

  
“I love you.” Adora whispered.

  
Catra still looked surprised to hear it. But for once in her life, she decided to not let her fear get in the way of this. “I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I'm not going to really go into the clone thing, but I felt like it needed to be addressed. I'm not going for plot. I'm going for fluff.
> 
> Also, I'm going to be writing more. I made them a series because it's gonna be more like a bunch of loosely related one-shots. Mostly a mix of relentless angst and self-indulgent fluff. So keep up with that if you are like me and can't get enough of these two.
> 
> I’ve already written a few more so I’ll be putting them up regularly. Most of them are going to be much longer and angstier. If you have ideas or prompts you’d like to see in writing, send them my way.


End file.
